The present invention relates to a lighting system for a building which utilizes the sunshine to promote effective use of every available space of the building inclusive of an underground structure thereof.
A majority of buildings today have generally quadrilateral or like cross-sections. Where such a building is of a substantial scale, rooms at its central part are unavoidably isolated from the outside and, therefore, have to be furnished with installations for artificial lighting and ventilation. This kind of buildings may be suitable for providing for offices but not for housing at all.
In designing a building for living quarters, it is desirable that at least one opening of each apartment directly faces the outside of the building to permit the occupants to enjoy the sunshine in the daytime. It is also desirable that the outside air can be introduced into the apartment through a window or the like to flow therethrough whenever desired. To meet these requirements, buildings for living quarters are generally formed flat so that their depth may be small and the apartments may be arranged side by side to individually have direct access to the outside. However, such an upright thin structure is quite susceptive to widthwise vibration and, therefore, cannot be designed higher than a certain limit.
Recently, plans have been presented for the construction of cylindrical buildings and annular or substantially annular buildings for housing applications, which will achieve a taller and more vibration resistive structure. However, despite the potentially tall and small plottage structure, this type of building will still leave its central space in the shade all day long if its diameter is relatively small.
Apart from the drawbacks discussed above, the usefulness of various subordinate spaces of buildings has heretofore been neglected. For example, while a building is usually provided in its underground structure a pit for collecting ground water, the pit or the ground water has not been utilized at all. This limits the utilization of the whole building and wastes the potential utility of the subordinate spaces associated with the building.